Rare Callaway Corvette Takes On Eagles Canyon Raceway
Rare Callaway Corvette Takes On Eagles Canyon Raceway
Matt Farah wakes up 476 horsepower of twin-turbo exhilaration.
Before the ZR1 stole our hearts, GM used Callaway Cars to build their top tier of Corvettes. Between 1987 and 1991 the Callaway Twin Turbo C4 Corvette was only available to order from select dealers. After your ‘Vette was shipped to Callaway Cars, the dealer would then deliver it to you with the engine amped up to 345 horsepower and 356 lb.ft of torque. Only 125 were made in 1988, making the example featured in this One Take a very rare beast indeed.
For 1988, Callaway upped the power to 382 horses and 562 lb⋅ft of torque. Those were big numbers at the time. Big enough to pop in a cassette of your favorite hair-metal band, take off from the lights and then be handed a speeding ticket before the guitar solo finished. However, the numbers could have been even bigger. Callaway Cars were restricted by GN for some of the choices they could make when building the engines.
When the owner contacted Calloway Cars, he found out they would have preferred to use a camshaft from TPIS. He ordered and installed one, but didn’t stop there. He also added an intake modification as well as a tune from ATS Exotics. Now running on E85 fuel, it now pushes a blood thumping 476 horsepower with 606 lb.ft of torque at the wheels. If that’s not exciting enough, peak horsepower is delivered at grin-inducing 450o rpm.
ALSO SEE: Infinite Auto Design Makes the C7 Even Wider
If all that power delivered so early in a C4 without modern suspension and brake modifications sounds like it’s going to be an interesting drive, then you’re right. Farah is clearly having an absolute blast in this torque monster of a ‘Vette. It’s everything stock C4 owners recognize, but with super-sized bucketload of bottom end torque. We particularly enjoy Farah realizing that the speedometer only goes to 85 mph. Details like that show this ‘Vette is not just a late 1980’s time capsule, it’s gloriously overpowered time capsule.
